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[Nmaro Makari]

Hello folks

So I have a technical problem with my laptop I was hoping someone could help me with.

Essentially, the problem is that when playing online games for random lengths of time, (Star Wars The Old Republic, and EVE are the ones I'm playing) for no apparent reason my laptop stops receiving all wireless signal, i.e. the signal icon on the desktop bar has no signal and a little cross through it. There are a few wireless signals within range, but when the error occurs the machine does not receive them, along with my signal. The router also displays no sign of error and switching it on and off has no effect.

There is no error message other than generic "Socket Closed" ones from the game.

The wireless switch on my machine is still on when this occurs, it's not touched when this happens, switching it on and off does nothing.
 
Restarting, or putting the machine to sleep then switching back on solves the problem in the immediate sense, but it returns some time after. However, obviously losing all wireless connection means whatever game I'm on CTDs without warning.

Machine Specifications:

Dell Inspiron 1720
Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T2370 @1.73GHz
Installed Memory (RAM) 3.00GB
32-bit
Windows 7 (Service Pack 1) (Previously, Windows Vista)
Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT Video Card

Wireless Specification
Virgin Media ISP
Virgin Media Fiber Optic Super Hub (i think made by NETGEAR)

Any help would be welcome

[Saede Riordan]

sounds like your wireless card might be going bad. Get a hardline to your modem and see if that fixes it.

[Nmaro Makari]

sounds like your wireless card might be going bad. Get a hardline to your modem and see if that fixes it.

So just connect the two with a standard cable like this?



Also if it were, wouldn't I get the same problem while just using the internet for non-game stuff?

Thanks for the quick response Saede 

[Morwen Lagann]

sounds like your wireless card might be going bad. Get a hardline to your modem and see if that fixes it.

This. Rule out a problem with your ISP by first trying to see if it still happens when you're on a wired connection.

If it does, then there's two possibilities: your ISP is having problems, or your laptop's network hardware in general is having issues. The latter is probably less likely since the odds of both wired and wireless adapters in your machine failing at/around the same time seem fairly low.

Are you living with other people who share your internet connection? Are they experiencing issues, or doing anything that might cause connectivity issues for other users in the household?

Edit: If the only applications being affected are EVE and SWTOR, then it's also possible there's a routing issue between you and the servers, OR your ISP hates those two games in particular (it's not impossible, some people may remember when CCP tweaked the size of packets in EVE's netcode and suddenly it was being flagged as BitTorrent traffic by networking equipment on college campuses all over the place), though I don't think your wireless adapter would visibly say "I'm disconnected!" if that's all it was.

[Saede Riordan]

Also if it were, wouldn't I get the same problem while just using the internet for non-game stuff?

Small blips in your internet might not be noticed while just browsing websites, whereas something like EVE that requires a constant connection, the issues become noticeable.

[Nmaro Makari]

sounds like your wireless card might be going bad. Get a hardline to your modem and see if that fixes it.

This. Rule out a problem with your ISP by first trying to see if it still happens when you're on a wired connection.

If it does, then there's two possibilities: your ISP is having problems, or your laptop's network hardware in general is having issues. The latter is probably less likely since the odds of both wired and wireless adapters in your machine failing at/around the same time seem fairly low.

Are you living with other people who share your internet connection? Are they experiencing issues, or doing anything that might cause connectivity issues for other users in the household?

Edit: If the only applications being affected are EVE and SWTOR, then it's also possible there's a routing issue between you and the servers, OR your ISP hates those two games in particular (it's not impossible, some people may remember when CCP tweaked the size of packets in EVE's netcode and suddenly it was being flagged as BitTorrent traffic by networking equipment on college campuses all over the place), though I don't think your wireless adapter would visibly say "I'm disconnected!" if that's all it was.

I share a flat with my partner, between us we have 2 laptops and 2 iPads. My laptop is the only device to have this issue. I've been on the iPad totally surfing happy when this issue occurs. I'm also the only one out of either of us to play online games, and the error happens wether or not she's using the internet.

[Esna Pitoojee]

Start by running through what was mentioned above.

I'll add that depending on the age and quality of the machine, this may be an overheating problem. If the machine doesn't have enough thermal paste (or just has a plain poor layout) then long-term temperature spikes from associated loads on the processors - like, for instance, playing a video game - can cause a failure either in one of the components or at the connection between a component and the motherboard.

I've seen this in both issues in laptops and desktops, but it's especially prevalent in laptops where insufficient cooling and/or rough handling can exacerbate the problem.

[Victoria Stecker]

My in-laws have recently had issues with the apple laptops in the family randomly dropping their connection to the wireless. I was there for a week and my old gateway laptop had no such problems.

If the ethernet cord fixes the issue and your flatmate isn't having any problems, that narrows the problem down to your laptop's wireless. This might be an issue with the card itself or it might be an OS issue.

[Lyn Farel]

Yes, check out your wireless stuff first, those things are always screwing around for no reason. :/

[Vic Van Meter]

Before replacing any hardware, I would recommend two things.

1.  If it isn't already, turn on encryption so that only YOUR devices can connect.  If it is on, you might want to change the password.

2.  After that, assign each individual device its own channel in your IP.

The reason I say this is because a fairly common problem with any wireless router is that if two devices are trying to share the same IP channel, they will constantly disrupt each other.  You might not notice at first with some of the less intensive programs, but if you're lagging and being kicked offline very often on your online games, it might be that two devices are fighting for a specific channel on the router.

Simply make sure that all devices that connect wirelessly to your router have their own channel.  Normally, they should automatically sort themselves out, but it's happened here at my house with all our high-end gadgetry, so it can happen anywhere.  It'd be a really easy fix, too.

[Nmaro Makari]

Lil' update for you

I went out, got an ethernet cable and linked up the hub to my laptop. Thus far, I've had no problems from quite a few hours of gaming and surfing.

This leads me to believe that this may indeed be a hardware problem. It occurred to me after reading here and elsewhere that the heat may actually be a cause of bother because the WLAN Card is very close to the cooling vent, which gets hot when gaming, particularly. But I'm far from certain.

Anyone have any ideas what to do?

[Saede Riordan]

wlan cards are often one of the first things to go in laptops. I've had a few laptops and I've seen the wlan cards go before anything else more often then not. If its a seperate card, you could replace it, but if its like many laptops with the card onboard the motherboard, you may be up shit creek for wireless.

[Esna Pitoojee]

I personally have a cooling pad underneath my machine, with a small desk fan offset to the left that I use when things get really hot (or, in the summer, more or less constantly). The cooling pad is sufficient for most loads, but the fan really does help with the heaviest loads.

[Vic Van Meter]

Lil' update for you

I went out, got an ethernet cable and linked up the hub to my laptop. Thus far, I've had no problems from quite a few hours of gaming and surfing.

This leads me to believe that this may indeed be a hardware problem. It occurred to me after reading here and elsewhere that the heat may actually be a cause of bother because the WLAN Card is very close to the cooling vent, which gets hot when gaming, particularly. But I'm far from certain.

Anyone have any ideas what to do?

Build a PC?

[Katrina Oniseki]

Lil' update for you

I went out, got an ethernet cable and linked up the hub to my laptop. Thus far, I've had no problems from quite a few hours of gaming and surfing.

This leads me to believe that this may indeed be a hardware problem. It occurred to me after reading here and elsewhere that the heat may actually be a cause of bother because the WLAN Card is very close to the cooling vent, which gets hot when gaming, particularly. But I'm far from certain.

Anyone have any ideas what to do?

Jury rig a cooling solution, tbh. Build some sort of separating barrier between the vent and the card to keep heated air away from it, improve airflow around the laptop itself, and make efforts to reduce multitasking while playing EVE.